Mistletoe Dodging
by Storm Alert
Summary: After deciding that the Seireitei needed a bit of 'holiday spirit' Rangiku decorates it with kido enhanced mistle toe.  Mainly funny, various pairings  Rated for language and mildly suggestive content  Warning: a few  one  yaoi pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my Christmas Fic of 2011... I started it a bit late, but my laptop's being stupid so it's the best that I can do...**

**Anyways, there will be various parings, including Nanao x Shunsui and ByaRen. I will write up others if/when they develop in the story.**

**This is just the first chapter and it will probably speed up in the next chapters. I can't promise that it will be done before Christmas but I will do my best.**

**If I owned Bleach, Shunsui x Nanao would be canon. Is it? No. Do I own Bleach? Absolutely not.**

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><p>Hitsugaya Toshiro, Captain of the Tenth Division, stopped short in the doorway of the Tenth Division Barracks, staring at the chaos that greeted him. He was used to chaos. With Matsumoto Rangiku as your Vice Captain, you kind of had to be. But this was like nothing in his worst nightmares.<p>

Now, Hitsugaya would be the _last _person to admit that anything even remotely related to romance disgusted him. The truth, however, was that he was still at that childish stage where even two people holding hands was considered gross and kissing was so revolting that at even the thought of it, Hitsugaya would turn tail and run. This was why, after he had gotten over his initial shock at seeing the majority of his division making out in the hallway leading to his office, he ducked out of the door, pressed himself to the wall and took a deep breath. Several shinigami covered their ears when they saw him. They knew well enough what came when their Captain had _that_ look on his face.

"_**MATSUMOTO!**_" the short captain screamed as loud as his little lungs could possibly manage.

"Yes Captain?" his Vice Captain skipped over. She had abandoned her usual uniform for a tight, low cut red dress and a floppy red Santa hat. The dress was making most of the men present stare (and a few of the women too) but Hitsugaya barely noticed it.

"Why is there mistletoe _everywhere_ in the barracks?"

"Oh, that." Matsumoto grinned at him. "I thought it was time that the Seireitei got into the Christmas spirit. So I did some decorating. You were right Captain! With some determination I actually got some work done!"

"I never meant decorating the barracks! I meant that you should work a bit harder on _paperwork_! Take it down."

"But that'll take _forever_. Besides, I did some special stuff putting it up and I don't think that I can reverse it." She shrugged. "It'll fade eventually."

"What do you mean 'special stuff'?" Hitsugaya demanded suspiciously. Matsumoto flapped a hand at him.

"Oh, you know, some kido here and there. It had some unintended side effects but I think that it really adds to the affect."

There was a scream from within the barracks. "I can't move! Somebody _help _me!"

"Somebody _actually_ needs to kiss you. With tongue and everything." Somebody else replied, sounding weary. "Trust me, I _know_."

While Hitsugaya was listening to the conversation, Matsumoto had snuck away. Blinking, he focused on the spot where she had been and took yet another deep breath.

"_**MATSUMOTO!**_" This time, she didn't show up.

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><p>In the distance, Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of the Sixth Division, heard Hitsugaya's scream of rage and lifted his head off of his desk with a soft groan. Had he really fallen asleep at the office <em>again<em>? After quickly glancing around the room, he came to the slightly depressing conclusion that he had. Well, that totally _sucked_, to use a phrase that Renji seemed to have picked up from his various missions to the Real World. Glancing at the clock, Byakuya realized that he had approximately ten minutes to make it look as though he hadn't spent the night in the office before his loud but surprisingly observant Vice Captain, Renji Abarai arrived, fifteen minutes late, as usual, sputtering apologies. He really was lucky that his Vice Captain was always late or else he would have been in many, quite un-Kuchiki-like awkward moments over the years. Amazingly enough, falling asleep at your desk wasn't very noble-ish, for whatever reason.

With a sigh, Byakuya carefully straightened his robes and did a quick check to ensure that he didn't have ink smeared over his face or something equally embarrassing.

Twenty minutes later, there was a dull thud from outside. _Ah,_ thought Byakuya, not bothering to glance up from his paperwork. _That would be Renji._ What he had fallen over was a mystery to Byakuya and if he hadn't been a Kuchiki, he might have gone to the door to see what had happened (and perhaps tease Renji a little if he wasn't seriously injured). Being a Kuchiki, however, he stayed put, waiting for the other man to stumble through the door, spewing apologies.

"You have _got_ to be fucking _kidding _me!" Renji screamed from the other side of the door. This time, even strict Kuchiki training couldn't keep Byakuya from looking up. There was a second round of thuds, this time sounding as though somebody were repetitively banging their head against a hard surface. Then, for the third time that morning, Byakuya heard a now familiar scream from a very _different_ person than was usually delivering it. "_**MATSUMOTO!**_" Curiosity getting the better of him, Byakuya stood and went to the door, pulling it open to look down on the somewhat strange sight of Renji lying in an awkward position. Renji groaned and allowed his head to bang against the floor again.

"I swear, Captain, I honestly can't get up." He looked up at the ceiling above where his feet appeared to be stuck to the floor. Following his gaze, Byakuya looked up as well. Hanging from the roof was an innocent little bit of mistletoe. Something told him that he didn't want to be involved in this whole scenario but he couldn't just walk away, could he? His dilemma was solved when he heard Matsumoto running down the hall towards them. If she were the culprit behind this nonsense, which he suspected she was, she would solve it. Quietly, he stepped back into the safety of his office.

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><p>When Shunsui Kyouraku had heard about Matsumoto's plan to hang kido-enhance mistletoe around the Seireitei, he had applauded the idea and then promptly made a show of going into his rooms so that, come morning, Nanao would know that he had absolutely <em>nothing<em> to do with the whole thing. Although she was far smaller than him and extremely delicate looking, she scared him when she got truly angry and, Shunsui mused, being stuck underneath of kido-enhanced mistletoe was definitely enough to make her truly angry. Of course, she was too clever to get stuck, which was quite lucky for him, for he felt sure that he was likely to suffer at least a portion of her wrath were that to happen. Already, she was annoyed, since the whole of their staff were busy, either stuck underneath of mistletoe or enjoying getting unstuck a tad too much.

"Captain Kyouraku," Nanao snapped from her desk, turning in her chair to fix him with a piercing stare. "Would you _please_ stop daydreaming and _get to work_?"

Meekly, Shunsui bowed his head and went back to the stack of paperwork on his desk. Yes, Nanao was clever indeed. She was _so_ clever, in fact, that she had even thought of placing some of the enchanted mistletoe over top of his chair so that he was now stuck in front of his desk until further notice.

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><p><strong>Review? I would really, really appreciate it if you told me how it was, good, bad, terrible? This is my first Christmas Fic ever, so I would really like some feedback.<strong>

**-Stormy**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello my lovelies =) I hope you're happy with this chapter because I wrote it instead of studying for the three unit tests and the presentation that I have tomorrow. You should be extremely grateful, because if I fail these tests I'm blaming fanfiction.**

**Anyways, if I owned Bleach it would have more proportionate girls. That way, all the girls watching it won't feel as bad about their bodies the whole time (I know I do). Besides, aren't girls prettier when they're actually proportionate instead of looking as though they might tip over and do a face plant at any moment because their boobs are so big?**

**... Yeah, I thought so.**

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><p>If his noble parents could have seen Byakuya Kuchiki just then, they probably would have been sent back to their graves by horror induced heart attacks. Yes, a member of the prestigious Kuchiki clan was running his own errands. What a shocker. The scandal!<p>

The worst part of it, Byakuya thought, was that he wasn't even exaggerating very much. It would indeed be a scandal in the eyes of any Kuchiki noble before him and yet, here he was, perfectly fine with it. It was just more evidence that he was the black sheep of _generations_ of Kuchikis. What a depressing thought.

Of course, he could justify his actions in this case, if there had been any Kuchikis around to scold him. After all, it was either this or make out- tongue and all- with his poor-as-dirt, rukongai rat Vice Captain.

Not that the thought wasn't tempting, of course. It was just likely to give said poor-as-dirt Vice Captain the same heart attack that would have undoubtedly killed his parents had they been alive to see it. That, and it was extremely unprofessional. A tiny smirk somehow managed to work its way over his lips before he forced it down. But oh, would it ever be fun.

Then, before he could actually _smile_ and manage to give everybody on the street around him heart attacks (and why did it always have to be a heart attack? Couldn't they have a stroke or something?) he shoved the thought forcefully from his mind and picked up his pace a bit.

He reached the Tenth Division Barracks in good time, to discover that Hitsugaya had refused to even enter the barracks and had set up a makeshift office on the ground outside of the door using only a flat wooden board and a piece of slightly eroded stone. The small captain glanced up when Byakuya stopped in front of him, a look on his face that practically _dared_ Byakuya to ask.

Byakuya didn't ask. He had a pretty good understanding of how it felt to try to uphold at least a piece of dignity when in a building full of kido enhanced mistletoe. After glancing out the door at the mistletoe infested hallway, he had resorted to climbing out of the window in order to leave the building. That wasn't exactly dignified either, but he figured that it didn't count if nobody could see him.

When Byakuya held out the paperwork towards the little boy-prodigy in front of him, Hitsugaya frowned a bit. "The captain of the sixth division is running his own errands?" he asked dubiously, accepting the paperwork grudgingly.

"Abarai was… busy." Byakuya replied, his voice holding no hint of emotion.

"Ah. She put it in your division too?"

"As far as I can tell, she put it everywhere."

With a faint groan Hitsugaya allowed his head to bang against the board of wood that served him as a desk. "Wonderful," he muttered. "I want a new Vice Captain.

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><p>Shunsui was saying those exact same words.<p>

"How long are you going to make me sit here?" he moaned, trying to shift in his chair only to find that his bottom appeared to be stuck to the seat. Why, _why_ did he have to have a clever Vice Captain?

"Until you get that paperwork done," Nanao snapped, not bothering to turn to face him.

"I think this is a violation of the rules."

"No, it isn't actually," this time, Nanao did turn to face him. Somehow, even though the lighting in their small office was dim, at best, her glasses gleamed menacingly. "But do you know what _is_ against the rules?"

_Uh oh_, thought Shunsui.

"Not finishing your paperwork on time, getting drunk on duty, assaulting your Vice Captain and… oh yes. That last one. Engaging the Head Captain in combat. Somehow, you managed to do all of it. So right now, you can try to be a halfway decent Captain for once and actually get your work done. Understood? Because you're not getting out of here until it's all finished."

Sheepishly, Shunsui ducked his head. Sometime later, a sudden thought occurred to him. "How exactly _am_ I going to get out of here?"

"Easy," Nanao replied, facing her desk. "I call one of the girls in, they kiss you, you leave and do whatever it is that you do when you aren't here getting drunk. But, if you aren't finished when everybody is gone, you have to stay the night."

"Or," Shunsui suggested, a wicked little grin on his lips, "you could save yourself some effort and kiss me yourself."

Nanao stiffened, perhaps suppressing a shiver of delight. "Alright, you're staying the night." Or perhaps, she was just suppressing a shudder of disgust. It was hard to tell.

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><p>Yachiru was in her element. She, like Nanao, had mastered the art of picking up the mistletoe without actually being under it, and was now happily tormenting the people of the Eleventh Division. She had already gotten Ikkaku twice. The first time, he had been 'saved' by a random girl who nobody knew. This time, however, he was well and truly stuck, and would probably be there until the spell wore off.<p>

Yumichika was also quite cheerful. Using some sort of superhuman (supershinigami?) talent that nobody had known that he possessed until that moment, he had managed to avoid every little bit of the mistletoe. Just then, he was sitting a few feet away from the very stuck Ikkaku, chuckling softly under his breath.

"Isn't it unbeautiful to taunt somebody?" Ikkaku grumbled grumpily. "If you're not going to help me then just go away!"

"You mean, you want me to kiss you?" Yumichika asked, suddenly all seriousness.

"No!"

"Then I can't help you."

"Then _go away_!"

"And do what? I'm bored. I did all of the paperwork yesterday and everybody else is too busy getting stuck or unstuck under mistletoe to entertain me. I may as well stay here."

"Go beautify yourself or something then."

"Are you suggesting that I am not beautiful enough the way that I am?"

"You are _impossible_."

"Are you insulting me?"

"Will you go away if I was?"

"No."

"Then no, I wasn't."

"I am having troubles seeing how that was a compliment."

"Fine. It was a complisult. Happy now?"

"Such an ugly word. How dare you apply something like that to me?"

"It's compliment and insult mushed together! What is wrong with that?"

"Mushed is an ugly word as well."

"I hate you."

"You really _are_ insulting me, aren't you? Well, I will now give you all the reasons why I am the most beautiful being in existence."

"Shut up Yumichika."

"First off, my hair is just exquisite. It's so shiny and smooth,"

"… You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Silence. I am _trying_ to inform you all of the reasons why I am the most beautiful being in existence."

"You're horrible."

"Be quiet and listen. You could learn something from this. Now, where was I?"

"Somebody please, kill me now."

"Don't you mean 'kiss me now'?"

"Shut up Yumichika."

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><p><strong>Review? Pretty please? =3 Remember, I didn't study for three major tests to right this. Couldn't you spare a minute and write me a review?<strong>

**-Stormy**


	3. Chapter 3

**Next chapter =) It's a bit shorter than usual but as I said before, I had three unit exams today so when I went home I had a nap and then I made brownies and then I decided to write this fanfic but I got distracted by Voltaire. *hangs head* I finally compromised and listened to Voltaire while writing it.**

**If I owned Bleach it would have more Voltaire. Is there _any_ Voltaire? No. Unfortunately. Do I own Bleach? No. Unfortunately.**

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><p>Quickly glancing from side to side to make sure that nobody was around to see his rather inelegant entrance into his office, Byakuya scrambled through the window and flopped onto the floor with a muted thud. Slowly, he pushed himself off of the ground and, limping slightly, went back to his desk where he started on another large stack of paperwork.<p>

Approximately five hours later, his head slipped onto his desk and he fell asleep, for the third time that week, at his desk.

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><p>Shunsui sat in the dark of the office that he shared with Nanao, staring sulkily at the wall opposite him. Nanao had not been lying the least little bit when she had said that he was spending the night. It had been three hours since she had left, and another two onto that since the majority of the staff had left. Now he was stuck with nothing to do- she had taken away all of his sake, he had no food and it was nearly impossible to sleep in the position that he was in because of that damn mistletoe. Curse Matsumoto and her ideas.<p>

Grouchily, the large man attempted to slouch in his seat, which didn't work because of the afore-mentioned mistletoe and swore under his breath. This was going to be a _long_ night.

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><p>Renji too was cursing Matsumoto. He was still stuck to the floor, hating his life, many hours after he had become stuck in the first place. Why would nobody free him? Was he really that unattractive? Wriggling a bit in place- it was quite uncomfortable on the floor outside of the office; he attempted to turn his mind to other things. But as was inevitable when somebody was in a bad situation, his mind kept wandering back to how uncomfortable he was and how he really did wish that somebody- <em>anybody<em> would unstuck him.

... Well, anybody except for Omaeda. He would rather spend the rest of his life stuck to the floor than make out- tongue and all, with Omaeda. Or that creepy third seat from the Eighth, whatever the hell his name was. Did anybody actually know his name? Really? Because he honestly didn't.

And he was hungry. Really, really hungry. He couldn't remember the last thing he had eaten, that's how hungry he was. He was so hungry that he was on the verge of yelling at Byakuya to get him something to eat and that _definitely_ wasn't good for his health.

Speaking of which, what _was_ Byakuya doing? Everybody else in the division had already gone home but Byakuya hadn't stirred from his office since that morning. Surely he wasn't still working in there? The only other alternative, however, was that he was sleeping in the office and Renji was having a hard time believing that. It seemed far too out of character. Just then, the dim light radiating from under the door was extinguished and the door was pulled open. Byakuya stepped out, looking as though he were half asleep. He gave Renji a slightly surprised look, as though he had forgotten that he was there and moved past him, more shuffling with dignity than actually walking.

"Great," Renji grumbled, allowing his head to bang against the floor. "Even my own _Captain_ forgot about me." As an afterthought, he added, "and I'm _thirsty_ too. This is the worst experience of my life. I am going to kill Matsumoto." Sullenly, he glared at the door in front of him. He was so caught up in his sulking that he literally jumped (as much as he could with his feet stuck to the floor) when a pale hand set a plate of food and, a few seconds later, a glass of water in front of him. He was so startled that it was only when the door clicked shut behind Byakuya's thin figure that he remembered to say thank you.

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><p>"I'm hungry," Shunsui groaned. "I'm <em>so <em>hungry." He knew that it was a sign of insanity to be talking to oneself but did it really count if nobody was there to see him? He thought not. "I need a drink," he continued. "And my be-ah-u-ti-ful Nanao-chan!" Despite his high hopes, his 'be-ah-u-ti-ful Nanao Chan' didn't slip out of the shadows to free him with her divine kisses. Actually, to his complete disappointment, the shadows stayed empty with no hidden beauty sliding out of them. It was really quite depressing.

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><p>Nanao was woken roughly from sleep by the hard floorboards of her floor slamming into her face. Well, maybe it would have been more accurate to say that her face had slammed into the floorboards. She opened her eyes with a faint gasp of pain and sleepy surprise, half on and half off of her bed. Slowly, she untangled her legs from her covers and stood slowly, being careful of the various aches and pains suffered from falling out of bed in the middle of a nightmare. To be honest, she couldn't really recall what the dream had been about. All that she could remember was flames, lots and lots of flames and a faint shape in the middle of them, burning into an unrecognizable carcass.<p>

Sleep wasn't going to come back tonight. She might as well go back to the office and work until her eyes felt heavy enough that she might be able to sneak in a catnap before the rest of the Eighth Division arrived for the day. She pulled her flimsy nightgown off (and how her Captain would act if he saw her in a thin, white _nightgown_, she didn't want to find out), and sloppily pulled her Shinigami robes over her skin, not bothering to make sure that they were tidy. To be honest, she didn't give a shit at two in the morning. Without even thinking about pulling her hair up in its usual strict style, she strode out the door, conveniently forgetting that her Captain was still stuck underneath of kido-enhanced mistletoe in their office.

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><p><strong>That's all folks =)<strong>

**Review? Please? I'd really appreciate it!**

**-Stormy**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is short, but it's been hectic around here... Sorry.**

**I'll make this brief because I have to go 'socialize' with my family now...**

**I don't own Bleach.**

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><p>Nanao got quite a surprise when she half stumbled, half walked, through the door of the office that she shared with her captain.<p>

"He-llo-o my Nanao-chan!" he exclaimed. "I knew you'd come back for me!"

Still half asleep, despite her nightmare, Nanao started a bit at the unexpected sound of his voice before regaining her composure (and most of her alertness).

"I didn't come for you," she snapped brusquely, before ignoring him totally and sitting down at her desk. Shunsui, however, didn't want to be ignored.

"You look nice with your hair down like that. You should do that more often."

Nanao didn't answer. Behind her Shunsui sighed and then did something that she had begun to doubt that was even physically possible for him. He dropped all teasing and flirting and was serious.

"Why are you up?"

"None of your business." Despite his sudden seriousness, Nanao was _not_ in the mood to make small talk with her captain.

"Come now Nanao," Shunsui sighed. "You can talk to me."

..._ He didn't call me Nanao-chan_, she thought, shocked out of her grumpy sulk for a moment. But this was short-lived, as she sunk back into it almost immediately.

"Can I? Really Captain." She turned in her chair to face him.

"Yes. You can. You can always talk to me."

Nanao turned again with a small sound of disbelief. She didn't say another word the rest of the night (morning) despite Shunsui's repeated attempts at conversation. At six in the morning she stood and left, ignoring Shunsui's called out farewell. Back in her room she pulled her bed back into some semblance of order and crawled underneath of the covers, pulling her quilt up to her chin. In spite of the fatigue that tugged at her eyelids struggling to force them shut, she couldn't sleep. _Did he really mean it?_ She wondered. Every part of her mind wanted to believe that he did but she couldn't force herself to believe it. It would be too out of character for Shunsui Kyouraku to care about anything other than sleeping, drinking and getting laid.

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><p>Renji had just fallen asleep on the hard floor of the barracks (and <em>why<em> wouldn't anybody just _kiss_ him?) when the door of the office in front of him opened. A shaft of light fell across his body, turning his hair the colour of sunsets. His eyes flickered but he allowed them to shut again, figuring that it was just the captain leaving for the day, _finally_. An ice cold hand tilted his chin up and before he could even think about what was happening, or who that hand belonged to, soft lips had covered his and he felt his feet detach from the floor.

The kiss was over before it had even truly begun and the office door shut again. Renji opened his eyes and stared at the closed door in front of him, one hand covering his mouth. Had his Byakuya Kuchiki, _Byakuya Kuchiki_ just kissed him? It seemed that he had.

Deciding not to dwell on it any further, Renji allowed his head to drop down onto his arm and curled up on his side on the floor. There was no real reason to go to his home. After all, he'd have to come back here in two hours anyways. Maybe he'd even be on time for once! Soon he was fast asleep, one hand still on his mouth as though trying to recreate the feel of Byakuya's lips against his.

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><p>Nanao finally fell asleep around five in the morning. She didn't wake up at six, which was when she usually got up, nor did she wake up at eight, which was when the rest of the division began to stumble in, still rubbing sleep out of their eyes. Somewhere deep inside of her she knew that she should wake up but her body didn't <em>want<em> to wake up. She was tired. She never ever got enough sleep, not even on the few days where nightmares didn't plague her dreams.

When she finally did wake up, it was nearly ten in the morning. After glancing over at the clock she stumbled out of bed scrambling to put her hair up and get to the office as soon as was possible. How had she managed to sleep so long? She never slept in, not even on her days off! Why did she today?

Rushing out of the room she walked straight into her captain, who caught her by her arms and smiled down at her.

"Did you have a good sleep?" he asked her, holding her tightly enough so that she couldn't get away but not so tight that he hurt her.

"Please let go of me," she ordered crisply. Shunsui ignored her request.

"I hope you did," he continued as though she hadn't even spoken. His eyes held something that she didn't want to look at and she turned her head away but he released one of her arms and caught her chin, turning her head so that she had to look at him. "How about you take the day off," he suggested gently. "You deserve it." Then, still holding her so that she couldn't get away he leaned down and kissed her.

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><p><strong>Again, sorry it's so short<strong>

**-Stormy**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this is late =(**

**This is the final chapter for this fic and I'm not too happy with it but if I want to actually finish it it's the best I can do... Sorry**

**Anyways, Happy Holidays to all of you! Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, story alerting/favoriting etc.**

**If I owned Bleach I would be rich enough to buy Skyrim. Do I have Skyrim? No. Am I likely to have it in the near future? No. Do I own Bleach then? No. Definitely not.**

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><p>For a few seconds, Nanao wasn't quite certain what was happening. Sure, her captain had tried to steal kisses before but not like this... not ever like this. Her head spun wildly and all that she was really certain of was the pressure of his lips against hers and that she... liked it. She had never expected to like it.<p>

Shunsui pulled back, releasing her but still standing close enough that she could feel heat radiating from his body.

"See," he murmured, "that wasn't so bad, was it? The sky didn't fall. The earth didn't open up and swallow you up." Nanao let out a little gasp of air that she hadn't known that she had been holding, suddenly feeling silly. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting exactly but it had been something along those lines. "Now go back to bed, Nanao-chan." Even though he was using his pet-name for her, he still didn't sound as though he were teasing her. She hesitated for a moment before standing up on her very tiptoes and planting the lightest of kisses on his lips before turning and slipping back through the door to her room. Her pale fingers hovered over the lock on the door for a moment before she withdrew her hand and left the door unlocked.

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><p>For the first time since the day that he had been promoted to Vice Captain, Renji walked into the office early. Granted, he hadn't showered, or even bothered to put on a fresh uniform but that was alright. Unless Byakuya had taken a running leap to get over his sleeping form in the middle of the hallway (or simply climbed out of the window) the stoic man hadn't either. The thought of his gracefully, seemingly emotionless, <em>noble<em> captain taking a running leap over the body of his vice captain in order to exit his office without waking said sleeping vice captain, made Renji chuckle under his breath. This earned him an odd look from his captain but he didn't care. _He_ was the one who should be giving his captain odd looks. After all, _he_ hadn't snuck up on his captain and kissed him. Even though that was _exactly_ his intentions, he figured that it only counted if you had already done it.

Sometime during this thought process, Byakuya had gone back to his seriously depleted pile of paperwork. The fact that there was enough paperwork in the division to keep Byakuya busy for two days and nights straight was a little bit sad, really.

Realizing that he was just stalling for time, trying to talk himself out of this ridiculous and most likely suicidal idea that he'd gotten into his head, Renji began walking forwards, the soles of his sandals making barely any sound on the polished wooden floor of the office. If he was going to die, at least he would die happy.

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><p>Ikkaku was still stuck. He didn't know what he had done to deserve this sort of torture but whatever it was he was really, truly sorry. Finally, he broke.<p>

"I can't do this anymore!" he shouted. "I'm going to _murder_ Rangiku! Brutally! And painfully! I'll tear her into pieces! And then burn the pieces! No, before I tear her into pieces I'll make her babysit Yachiru! And then I'll tear her into pieces and burn the pieces and then I'll... I'll... Damn it all!" He seemed to run out of capacity for anything but incomprehensible gibberish comprised of two parts swear words and one part bloody, painful sounding threats, at that point. Yumichika, who had come out of his room at all of the noise sighed to himself.

"So loud," he commented, his voice lost in the whirlwind of Ikkaku's irrepressible rage. "How am I supposed to get any sleep with all of this noise?" Still, his words went unheard. "I must get my beauty sleep," he announced, striding towards his friend. Ikkaku was so busy shouting vile things at the ceiling that he didn't notice the smaller man's approach until he was standing right in front of him. Soft lips covered his own, completely cutting off Ikkaku's extremely creative cussing. The kiss was over quite quickly and Yumichika glared at him, shoving him backwards. To Ikkaku's surprise (part of him had honestly thought that he would be stuck in that spot for eternity) his feet came unglued from the floor and he stumbled backwards.

"I need my sleep!" Yumichika told him angrily. "How am I supposed to get my sleep when you're screaming?" he spun around and walked away, back straight with righteous indignation. Ikkaku stared after him for a few moments before grinning and turning away.

"Heh," he muttered dismissively. "Maybe I won't kill Rangiku after all."

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><p>Hitsugaya sat staring out of the window of his office. Yes, his office. He was finally back inside of his office. It was wonderful. It was the day after Christmas and through some fluke of incredible timing, the kido enhanced mistletoe had lost its hold, becoming just ordinary mistletoe again. Now Matsumoto was busy taking it all down and he finally had peace.<p>

It was so nice, knowing that everything was almost back to normal and yet 'normal' had been altered the slightest little bit. Many couples had sprung from Matsumoto's magical mistletoe. Yumichika and Ikkaku, the 'Maybe, Maybe-not' couple of the Seireitei were no definitely leaning towards 'maybe'. Rumors were spreading that they had Renji had been seen entering the Kuchiki Manor one night carrying Byakuya (whether the stoic captain had been asleep or awake was still being disputed) and as Matsumoto liked to put it, there was definitely something going on between the Captain of the Eighth Division and his Vice Captain.

But none of this really interested Hitsugaya. He was still a young boy and he did what most young boys did when faced with romance. He looked the other way.

So this was why he was the only person in the near vicinity of the Tenth Division Barracks who didn't see Shunsui grab his regrettably over-worked Vice Captain and pull her into a kiss. And Hitsugaya definitely didn't stick around long enough to see her actually kiss him back.

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><p><strong>... Review? Once again, Happy Holidays to all of you =)<strong>

**All the best,**

**-Stormy**


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